Phnom Penh

To wrap up Cambodia we headed to the capital city Phnom Penh - a sprawling mass of humanity which is home to Cambodia's richest and poorest people.

We decided to visit the hardest hitting sites first off (and all in one day) as we anticipated being sobered up by a cold hard dose of the reality which is Cambodia's recent history.

We spent a cherry morning at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or Security Prison 21 (S-21) for us foreigners. Before the Khmer Rouge came to power S-21 was a quaint high school in the middle of the city. The Khmer Rouge quickly converted it into a prison and interrogation centre - complete with electrified barb wire.

At any one time, the prison held between 1,000-1,500 prisoners. They were repeatedly tortured and coerced into naming family members and close associates, who were in turn arrested, tortured and killed.

We decided to skip lunch because we were spending the afternoon at The Killing Fields. Sadly there a number of Killing Fields in Cambodia. We visited the best known one, Choeung Ek. Prisoners who had served their purpose at S-21 were blindfolded and transported by truck a short distance out of the city. The lucky ones were made to kneel before being whacked in the back of the head with a blunt object. The unlucky ones were either buried alive or made to dig their own graves.


The fields were originally an orchard and walking around you could easily mistake it for another piece of empty land, except of course for the pieces of bone stacked in small piles and signs like the one below.

With these two gruesome attractions out of the way we moved onto more pleasant sites. For some Asian hilarity we decided to visit the misleadingly named Olympic Stadium. Cambodia has never hosted the Olympics and 2008 was the first time they sent athletes but between 5pm and 7pm each night it is the place to work out (or be seen to work out). People run laps around the track but the majority perform some amazing aerobics.

Like everyone else we visited the Independence Monument in the middle of town. The closest you can get is the perimeter as too many vagrants were using it as a halfway house. There is a security guard (presumably 24 hours a day) there with one responsibility - to make sure nobody crosses the perimeter, exciting stuff.

We spent an afternoon at the Royal Palace which was pretty cool despite all the tour groups doing their best to get in our way. Whilst at the Royal Palace we even managed to get a glimpse of the King, he was smaller and shinier than we were expecting.

Random Fact: Luxury cars, there are no fewer than 7 Hummers and 1 Ferrari in Phnom Penh. Ridiculous when there are people sleeping in the streets.

Highlights:
- The local burger joint. Coming in at the same price as a cheeseburger back home, the 'special' burger was the clear champion. We're both ashamed of how many we ate during our stay..
- Dan's hair cut. The professionalism and concentration of the salon was exemplary, and a bargain at $5 NZ. In addition to the lead stylist there were two ladies acting as consultants to make sure that the end product was perfect.

Lessons Learned:
- If a moto driver thinks you are drunk the price of a ride triples.
- If a local guy that's drunk and works at the royal palace gives you his cell number and tells you he'll let you in for free, he probably won't.
- If you find yourself surrounded by tuk tuk drivers the best way to handle it is to say "I want to go here, who has the best price?" When we did it they immediately undercut each other and terse words were exchanged afterwards.